


Hold Me Up Just a Little Bit Longer

by Skaboom



Series: Skaboom's Bad Things Happen Bingo [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Anxiety, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Cuddles, Gags, Gen, Lacerations, Left for Dead, M/M, Medical Experimentation, Needles, Prompt: Muzzled, Restraints, Season 5 Canon Divergent, bed sharing, slight mentions of drug use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:48:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24951085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skaboom/pseuds/Skaboom
Summary: When Josh Diaz is labeled a failed experiment by the Dread Doctors and left for dead on the edge of the preserve, Brett Talbot finds him, and brings him home. Amidst Josh's confusion and fear, he finds comfort in Brett, and Brett's promises to help him.
Relationships: Josh Diaz/Brett Talbot, Pre Josh Diaz/Brett Talbot
Series: Skaboom's Bad Things Happen Bingo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805800
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	Hold Me Up Just a Little Bit Longer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xTarmanderx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xTarmanderx/gifts).



> This fic is a fill from my Bad Things Happen Bingo Card, for the prompt Muzzled, and was requested by my friend Tara! The title is taken from the song Jersey by Mayday Parade.

“No, no, please don’t!” Josh begged as the Dread Doctors dragged him into the operating theater.    
  
Two of them held him while the third cut his shirt from his body.    
  
“What do you want from me? Please, let me go!” Josh struggled against the almost mechanical arms holding him, fighting to break free of the their hold, but it was no use.    
  
“The experiment is incomplete,” The Surgeon said.    
  
“Experiment? What experiment?” Josh asked, his heart racing. “I didn’t do anything! I don’t know what experiment you’re talking about!”   
  
“We must analyze your condition,” The Surgeon continued, ignoring Josh’s words and leaning in towards the boy as the Geneticist and the Pathologist held him fast.    
  
“My condition? If this is about the drugs, I- no, no, please! Don’t hurt me!” Josh cried out as he was pulled back towards a table.   
  
The young man tried to kick out as he was pushed down onto it, his ankles strapped down.    
  
“No, no, what are you doing!” He felt panic boiling inside of him, and he didn’t know if this was real, or some horrific, drug fueled hallucination. Regardless of all potential options, it  _ felt _ real, and he was terrified.    
  
Josh continued to scream, to struggle as his torso was pushed down, and his wrists were forcefully strapped down to the operating table. He tugged at the restraints, his muscles tensing as he tried to pull himself free, but the bindings didn’t give at all.    
  
“Quiet him,” The Surgeon ordered as Josh continued to scream and beg.    
  
“Please!” He cried. “Please, don’t hurt me!”   
  
The Geneticist grabbed a fistful of Josh’s hair and wrenched his head up from the table while The Pathologist approached, a leather muzzle in his hands.    
  
“No, no, no!” Josh shook his head, but The Geneticist held fast, keeping his grip on Josh’s hair, pulling slightly to guide his head up further from the table.    
  
The Pathologist forced the plug of the muzzle into Josh’s mouth, and began tightly securing the straps around the young man’s head. The leather panel pressed over his lips, muffling his cries as the last buckles were padlocked, securing the contraption on him with no hope of escape.    
  
Josh continued to beg behind the strict device, but it was little use. His words were garbled and quieted, and The Dread Doctors paid him no mind. He was held down, a leather strap going over his forehead, restricting almost any movement he had left.    
  
Tears welled in his eyes as he tried to wriggle away from his tormentors, but there was no escaping them, they had made sure of that.    
  
His muffled screams filled the air as they cut into his skin, pulling back a patch of it to reveal glowing, purple flesh. Josh could only see the edge of it, but his eyes widened, and his heart rate increased. What the fuck was happening to him? What were these monsters  _ doing  _ to him? It hurt, and it didn’t make any sense.    
  
As Josh continued to cry out in fear and pain, The Surgeon leaned down, looking him over.    
  
“Your condition worsens,” the horrifying voice said.    
  
Josh wanted to ask what that meant, but he couldn’t get the words out with the muzzle locked tightly over his face. The Pathologist approached him with a syringe and large needle, and Josh shook his head, trying to say ‘no,’ as he struggled against his restraints.    
  
When the needle was plunged into his arm, he let out a loud cry, but it was cut short as consciousness left his body.    
  
“He is a failure,” The Surgeon said to the others. “Dump him.”   
  
Josh’s body was unstrapped from the table, and lifted up. The doctors carried him from the tunnels and dropped him on the edge of the preserve, unconscious, still shirtless with the patch of skin still separated from his torso, and the muzzle still locked over his face.    
  
“We will have to find another,” The Geneticist said as they walked away, leaving Josh Diaz for dead.    
  
***   
  
Sometimes, when the moon was bright in the sky, and energy coursed through Brett Talbot, he would sneak out of his house to go for a run. The preserve was his favorite place to go at night, because he liked being at one with nature, and without leaving Beacon Hills entirely, that was the best place to go.    
  
As he neared the preserve, he removed his headphones. He didn’t like to have his senses at all blocked when he was in the wooded area. He liked to hear the sounds of the animals, and the breeze, and anything else that may be calling the preserve home, either temporarily or otherwise.    
  
As he neared the edge of the woods, he expected the familiar sight of trees, the smell of dirt and plants, the sound of owls, or other nocturnal animals going about their life. What he didn’t expect was the sound of heavily labored breathing, the stench of fear, of someone close to death, and the sight of a motionless body.    
  
“Oh my god.” Brett gulped. His first instinct was to call for the Sheriff, but then he noticed the glowing purple coming from the side of the body.    
  
If this body was supernatural, it probably wasn’t Sheriff Stilinski that he should be calling.    
  
Slowly, cautiously, Brett approached. As he grew closer, he noticed that the figure was male, tall and lean, with a ghastly muzzle locked over his face. The contraption was large enough that it obscured the boy’s features too much for Brett to tell who it was, but he reached out, swiping carefully at the leather straps with his claws until the straps came loose.    
  
“Oh…” Brett gasped as he tossed the muzzle aside. He recognized the boy. He didn’t know him well, but they had danced together a few times at Sinema. Josh, he was pretty sure.    
  
Brett had remembered liking him. Josh was almost as tall as he was, and absolutely gorgeous, with brown eyes that you could get lost in. Right now, though, Brett could barely call to mind their time spent pressed against each other, not speaking, as they danced.    
  
“Okay, it’s gonna be okay.” He reached down, lifting Josh’s body. As he did so, one of his eyes opened, only slightly. Rather than the brown eyes that Brett had been expecting, however, was glowing purple. He didn’t know what this was, what  _ Josh  _ was, but he knew that he couldn’t just leave him here at the edge of the preserve to die.    
  
“Nnnggghhh...” Josh groaned, his body flopping, deadweight, in Brett’s arms as the other man lifted him into a bridal carry.    
  
“Shh, shh,” Brett said softly. “I’m going to get you out of here, alright? You’re going to be okay.” He started moving, walking briskly away from the preserve. “I’ve got you.”   
  
Josh said nothing, his head lolling against Brett’s chest. He was barely clinging to consciousness, barely clinging to life.    
  
***   
  
When Josh came to, he was in a bed he didn’t recognize. He woke, slowly at first, and then, with the memories of the previous night rushing back to him, shot up with a start, panting heavily, his chest heaving. He reached down to his side where he was  _ sure  _ he had been sliced open, but there was no wound. He looked to his arm for a mark where the needle had gone in, but there was nothing.    
  
Had it all been a dream? A hallucination? Where  _ was _ he?   
  
“Oh thank god, you’re awake.”    
  
“What?” Josh looked up to see a boy he recognized walk into the room.   
  
The boy was tall, with piercing blue eyes, his brown hair currently mussed, and there was a look of concern on his face that Josh had never seen before.    
  
Brett. From Sinema.    
  
They had danced together a few times, and apparently, they had gone home together last night, though Josh had no memory of that. All that his brain could call forth right now was the vivid memory of the mechanical doctors strapping him down and cutting him open.    
  
“How are you?” Brett asked, moving to sit on the edge of the bed.    
  
“I…” Josh gulped. “Um…”   
  
Brett could hear Josh’s racing heart, he could see the confusion and anxiety on his face.    
  
“I don’t remember what happened last night,” Josh said finally.    
  
“Are you sure about that?” Brett asked.    
  
“I…” Josh shook his head.    
  
“You look like you remember something.”   
  
“A dream, I think,” Josh said softly. “Did we go home together?” He looked over at Brett. “I don’t remember…”   
  
“We didn’t.” Brett shook his head. “I found you on the edge of the preserve. Someone had left you for dead.”   
  
“Oh my god.” Josh gulped. He reached down again, touching his side.    
  
“You healed,” Brett said softly.    
  
“That’s impossible.”   
  
“It isn’t.” Brett shook his head. “What you remember? It wasn’t a dream, Josh. At least I don’t think so, I don’t know what happened to you, I just know how I found you. You were shirtless in the woods, barely conscious, gagged, and injured.”   
  
“Was I-” Josh stopped himself.    
  
“Were you what?” Brett asked.    
  
“It’s going to sound insane,” Josh said softly. He looked down at the bedspread, unable to meet Brett’s eyes.    
  
“Try me,” Brett offered.    
  
“Was I...glowing?” Josh’s voice was barely audible, as though he were afraid to even entertain the thought. “Where I was cut open, was it glowing purple?”   
  
“Yes.” Brett nodded.    
  
“How is that even possible?”   
  
“I’m not sure,” Brett said. “What I do know is that a lot of things are possible that the average person doesn’t know about.”   
  
“What do you mean?” Josh asked, if anything, more confused than he had been before.    
  
“I’m going to show you something,” Brett said, his tone calm and even. “And I need you not to freak out.”   
  
“I...I’ll try?” Josh pushed away from Brett in the bed, however, scooting until his back met with the headboard.    
  
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Brett said softly. “I promise.”   
  
Josh just nodded.    
  
Brett moved back himself, giving Josh space, though he kept his gaze trained on him. First, he flashed his eyes, changing them from their natural brown to their supernatural bright yellow. Next, he allowed his fangs to grow, and claws to come out.    
  
“Oh my god.” Josh gulped, pulling the blankets around him, almost like a scared child. “What...what are you? Are you one of...of  _ them _ ?”   
  
“I don’t know what you mean by  _ them _ ,” Brett said, returning to his human features to avoid frightening Josh further. “But I’m a werewolf, and you’re...you’re something, Josh.”   
  
“Something?” Josh frowned. “What does that mean?”   
  
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But your flesh was glowing, when I carried you back here last night, your eyes flashed violet, just like mine do yellow.”   
  
“What’s happening to me?” Josh asked softly, fear and anxiety evident in his tone.    
  
“I don’t know,” Brett admitted. “But I’m going to help you, alright? I’m going to help you find out. I know people who will want to help, too, people who won’t stop until they figure out what you are, and how to keep you safe.”   
  
“Really?” Josh asked.    
  
“Really.” Brett nodded. “I promise.”   
  
“Okay.” Josh wasn’t sure why, but he felt like he could trust Brett. He was confused as all get out, and a lot of what the other man was saying didn’t really make sense to him, but that didn’t change the fact that Brett was calming, that he was kind, and that something about him just felt safe.    
  
“What do you remember from last night?” Brett asked.    
  
“Um.” Josh shrugged. “I don’t know. I was walking home, and these... _ things _ grabbed me…” He continued on, telling Brett everything about The Dread Doctors, and how they had strapped him down, cut him open, and told him about his worsening condition.    
  
Perhaps the most shocking part of all of this for Josh was that Brett didn’t seem terribly shocked to hear any of it.    
  
“Okay.” Brett nodded. “So I think...you’re one of the Chimeras.”   
  
“The  _ what? _ ” Josh looked distressed, confused, and understandably so.   
  
Brett took a deep breath, then, in the calmest way possible, he explained everything. He told Josh what he knew about the Dread Doctors, and what he knew about the Chimeras, and what was going on with them. He told Josh about Scott and his pack, and how they were all working together to figure out what was going on.   
  
“And you expect me to believe all of that?” Josh asked when Brett finished.    
  
“Yes.” Brett nodded. “Because you already know it’s true.”   
  
“I…” Josh paused, but Brett was right. It was a ton of information, and it seemed crazy, but deep down, he knew that Brett was telling the truth. He wasn’t sure  _ how  _ he knew, he just did. “I guess.”   
  
“But we’ll help you, alright? I’ll call Scott, and we’ll get this all figured out.”   
  
“Okay.” Josh sank back down into the bed. His head hurt from the confusion and the pounding memories of the night before. “But before...before we call all of your friends, I’m just...can I have a little time? To process?”   
  
“Of course.” Brett nodded, standing up to leave the room. “I’ll give you space.” He headed for the door.    
  
“Brett?” Josh asked, his voice shaky.    
  
“Yeah, Josh?” Brett turned back around, kind eyes searching Josh’s panicked face.    
  
“Can you stay with me?” he asked. “Please?”   
  
“Yeah.” Brett turned back around, and sat on the bed again.    
  
Josh burrowed into the covers, pulling them around his somehow miraculously healing body.    
  
“I’m scared,” he admitted.    
  
“Makes sense. You’re going through a lot right now. But you’re not alone, alright? I’m here. I won’t stop until we figure this out, okay?”   
  
“Okay. Thank you.”   
  
“I won’t lie to you,” Brett said. “Everything will be different now. Probably forever.”   
  
“That’s not very comforting,” Josh mumbled.    
  
“I know. But it’s the truth, and I don’t want to lie to you.”   
  
“But you’ll be here?” Josh asked. “For all of it?”   
  
“Yes.” Brett nodded. “I promise.”   
  
“Do you wanna…” Josh gulped, gesturing to the mattress beside him.    
  
“Yeah.” Brett turned, slipping under the covers next to Josh. He lay there, about four inches of space separating himself from the other boy. He could hear Josh’s racing heart, he could smell the anxiety on him, and he bit his lip. “Do you want me to hold you?”   
  
Josh turned, looking at Brett, processing his words carefully before nodding silently.    
  
“Okay.” Brett reached out, putting both arms around Josh and holding him close.    
  
Josh’s back pressed against his front, and Brett closed his arms over Josh’s still-bare torso.    
  
“I’ve got you,” Brett whispered. “Close your eyes, get some rest. You’re safe here. You’re safe with me.”   
  
Josh couldn’t explain why he trusted Brett, or why he felt, deep down in his bones, that what the other man was saying was true, but it was, and he did. He closed his eyes, finally managing to find some small modicum of peace in the arms of the other man.


End file.
